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Looking at all the sample essays for Kellogg, Wharton, etc in the MBA guide books does anyone else feel a bit...inferior? These are some truly bright and dynamic people...Compared to applications like them, mine would seem...well a bit lacking!

Looking at all the sample essays for Kellogg, Wharton, etc in the MBA guide books does anyone else feel a bit...inferior? These are some truly bright and dynamic people...Compared to applications like them, mine would seem...well a bit lacking!

Personally I think those profiles are larger than life. By the age of 25-26 it is close to impossible for many of us to have had extremely rewarding careers, academics and extra curricular activities. It can definitely be intimidating. If I were a consultant at McKinsey, a student scout lead, a graduate from Stern and a Nobel prize winner (whew!!!) I would'nt have to worry about the clarity of my essays. The subject matter of the book and the essay samples are strongly driven towards western way of life.
Those essays are simply very well written. I think that is the idea the author is trying to drive in.

I agree many of the essays are WAYYYYYY over the limit, particularly the INSEAD ones. INSEAD has very tight word limits and this one guy Uri overshoots each essay by 200. If you guys need some comforting I would suggest reading Anne's essays for INSEAD. Personally, I can't believe her essays were used as samples, since they are amazingly bad. There's one essay in particular where she just keeps writing "refer to essay number X for details". I honestly can't believe INSEAD would accept someone who writes so poorly.

guys, i had a similar feeling when i read some of the sample essays... well, these were made to sell and carefully crafted/refined by prfessional essay writers. My friend, who is a Tuckie, told me to do three important things with my essays:

1. Be yourself
2. Tell your story
3. Be honest

Admissions people aren't a bunch of robots, They are people. If an essay tells your story it will be noticeable and will stand out.

There are certainly a wide range of opinions on the matter, but in my opinion many of the essays that one can find in the commerical essay writing books come across as very over the top. In my experience working with candidates, these sample essays are often more of a distraction than anything else. Applicants either feel that their accomplishments are insignificant compared to the sample essays or they feel that their essays should conform to the style of the essays in the book. I suggest putting the sample essays aside, and focus on telling your story.

There are certainly a wide range of opinions on the matter, but in my opinion many of the essays that one can find in the commerical essay writing books come across as very over the top. In my experience working with candidates, these sample essays are often more of a distraction than anything else. Applicants either feel that their accomplishments are insignificant compared to the sample essays or they feel that their essays should conform to the style of the essays in the book. I suggest putting the sample essays aside, and focus on telling your story.

I bought one of these books and its been on my shelf ever since. I read one or two essays and realized that they were going ot be ridiculous. People don't buy this book because they need help figuring out whether to focus more on "The summer I took off last year to go save baby seals affected by exxon-valdez" or whether its better to talk about "The non-profit I founded focused on bringing purified water services to Tanzania. Just last year, we finished our first pipeline, after raising $100MM, ..." That 760 GMAT, 3.98 GPA african american woman who founded the second largest gay and lesbian foundation on the east coast, and uses her vacation time away from her job as a Manager at Boston Consulting Group, to fly orphans home to their new foster parents thanks to her pilot's license, which she got at age 9 as the youngest woman in the history of US to become a licensed pilot, and thanks to her Cessna plane, donated to her by the President of Zambia who gave it to her after she saved him during a coal mine collapse in 1998 where they were both trapped for ten days and she was forced to learn another language in order to communicate and survive. Yea her. She's already getting in. She doesn't need the book.

These are already people who, from teh essays I've seen, have few gaps in their histories or extracurricular activities - if any. What the books should address (and again ive only looked a bit, but it seemed it didnt) is how to handle exactly these gaps.

Also, I think that everyone has these books. The last thing I want is my essays to read like everyone elses.

LOL! This cracked me up...but then this doesn't compare to "that one time" where ...well, nevermind!

I did read some sample essays on BW - not exactly superstar essays, those.

rhyme wrote:

Hjort wrote:

There are certainly a wide range of opinions on the matter, but in my opinion many of the essays that one can find in the commerical essay writing books come across as very over the top. In my experience working with candidates, these sample essays are often more of a distraction than anything else. Applicants either feel that their accomplishments are insignificant compared to the sample essays or they feel that their essays should conform to the style of the essays in the book. I suggest putting the sample essays aside, and focus on telling your story.

I bought one of these books and its been on my shelf ever since. I read one or two essays and realized that they were going ot be ridiculous. People don't buy this book because they need help figuring out whether to focus more on "The summer I took off last year to go save baby seals affected by exxon-valdez" or whether its better to talk about "The non-profit I founded focused on bringing purified water services to Tanzania. Just last year, we finished our first pipeline, after raising $100MM, ..." That 760 GMAT, 3.98 GPA african american woman who founded the second largest gay and lesbian foundation on the east coast, and uses her vacation time away from her job as a Manager at Boston Consulting Group, to fly orphans home to their new foster parents thanks to her pilot's license, which she got at age 9 as the youngest woman in the history of US to become a licensed pilot, and thanks to her Cessna plane, donated to her by the President of Zambia who gave it to her after she saved him during a coal mine collapse in 1998 where they were both trapped for ten days and she was forced to learn another language in order to communicate and survive. Yea her. She's already getting in. She doesn't need the book.

These are already people who, from teh essays I've seen, have few gaps in their histories or extracurricular activities - if any. What the books should address (and again ive only looked a bit, but it seemed it didnt) is how to handle exactly these gaps.

Also, I think that everyone has these books. The last thing I want is my essays to read like everyone elses.

There are certainly a wide range of opinions on the matter, but in my opinion many of the essays that one can find in the commerical essay writing books come across as very over the top.

At this risk of sound like a conspiracy nut, I think they do this on purpose to scare people into going to buy professional admissions consulting advice or "essay grooming" services or whatever. The goal of the author isn't to give honest useful advice for your "everyday" applicant, it's to sell books and related services. And nothing motivates like fear.